News from Opening Bell

The AP (7/10, Kerr) reports that according to a new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, “only 9.4 percent of 15-year-olds were able to answer the most difficult questions on an international test of their financial knowledge and skills,” while over one in six US students failed to demonstrate even basic financial literacy. Noting that US students scored in the middle of the pact of other countries, the AP reports that Education Secretary Arne Duncan said “American schools can do better.” The piece quotes Duncan saying, “Our economy is changing so much and the idea of young people going into the world of work, staying with one job for 40 years, having secure pension and retirement, those jobs are basically gone.”

TIME (7/10) reports that the OECD report painted US students as “distinctly average,” and quotes Duncan saying, “Young people, to be successful, to secure retirement, to take care of their families, and to not be in poverty, have to have a level of financial literacy that 30, 40, 50 years ago maybe wasn’t required. Today it’s an absolute necessity.” Time reports that Duncan called for “improved mathematics education, which the study found, along with reading, is very closely linked to financial literacy.” Diverse Education (7/10) also covers this story.